2017 Drive Car of the Year: Best Performance Car over $60,000

Drive car of the year judging and contenders: Performance Over $60k
The heavy-hitters in our awards - in both price and punch - are part of the Best Performance Car Over $60,000 category. Porsche's latest 911 Carrera - arguably the quintessential sports car - will return in GTS form to try and see off the thunderous Mercedes-AMG E63 S sedan, Audi TT RS coupe, effervescent Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio and balanced Porsche Cayman coupe.View judging and contenders

A mid-mounted engine, for instance, is great for a car’s cornering, but can sometimes ruin stability and is nearly always at the expense of a rear seat.

But when Mercedes-AMG builds a supercar, it starts with the perfectly sensible, high-quality E-Class sedan, and suddenly, you’re looking at a car with five seats, a large boot and superb liveability.

Which is a large part of the reason the Mercedes-AMG E63 S took home the gold in this category.

Not only is it superbly equipped with lots of convenience kit and the latest safety tech, it’s also easy to get in and out of and presents as a luxury car rather than a hoon-mobile.

But don’t be fooled by the relatively staid presentation. Oh no, the AMG E63 S is a serious performance car in every imaginable way.

In fact, you’ll probably need to recalibrate the way you think about performance cars in general and fast four-doors in particular, because the E63 S features an engine that is more of a controlled explosion than anything you think you know about motor-vehicle propulsion systems.

Can the new Alfa Romeo Giulia QV outpace this quartet of muscular Germans? Photo: Mark Bean

Hold the AMG’s throttle on the floor from a standing start and you’ll be doing 100km/h in just 3.3 seconds. Not only is that outrageously fast for a four-door sedan, it’s supercar-humbling stuff.

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The secret is the new AMG V8 which measures four litres and uses a pair of turbochargers to boost power to a stratospheric 450kW and torque to a mind-bending 850Nm. Trust us, this is the car of choice of the Flat Earth Society.

The AMG is a big car, no doubt about that, but even the 1950kg it claims on the weighbridge doesn’t blunt the acceleration, nor does it infer a car with remotely soggy handling or steering; no, the AMG is pin-sharp.

Part of that is down to very firm suspension which leads to a brittle ride on less-than-perfect surfaces but remains part of the AMG ethos, it seems.

And here’s the rub: Not only could you live with this car on a day-to-day basis, but in the average driver’s hands, the E63 S would be quicker around a race-track than most supercars.

That’s all down to the AMG’s accessibility, partly thanks to the E63 S laying all that power to the ground through a rear-biased all-wheel drive transmission, and the fact that it’s good enough to mask driver shortcomings rather than magnify them and piling itself and its occupants into the catch-fence.

And that translates to normal road use, too, where the car’s enormous reserves of grip, braking and safety tech all work together to keep things nice.

Verbatim: “It might `only’ be a four-litre engine, but it doesn’t feel highly strung or small in any way.” - Kez Casey

What we liked:

Crushing acceleration.

Every-day practicality.

Huge safety and equipment list.

What we didn’t:

Ride quality will be an issue for some.

A quarter of a million is not pocket-money.

Tyre noise on coarse surfaces.

2017 Mercedes-AMG E63 S Price and specifications

Price: $250,511 as tested

Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol

Power: 450kW at 5500rpm

Torque: 800Nm at 1750rpm

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic, AWD

Fuel use: 9.3 litres per 100km (combined)

Finalist: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

The new Giulia range signals the fact that Alfa is back in town and in a big way.

And this version, the Quadrifoglio, serves notice to the world of ultra-high performance sedans like the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63 that the Italian brand is after a chunk of their turf.

In the meantime, the Alfa’s price-tag suggests some kind of performance bargain, particularly when you look at the sheer numbers the thing can produce.

With 375kW of power and 600Nm, it’s a powerhouse in the modern sense, despite displacing just 2.9 litres.

But that V6 engine features turbocharging and enough new-tech to make those numbers a reality while scoring an official fuel consumption figure of 8.2 litres per 100km.

Put it all together and you have a car that will blast from rest to 100km/h in under four seconds flat.

All the new Giulias, including this one, are rear-drive, which, on paper, seems a bit at odds with taming that beast of an engine.

But with clever electronics and a fundamentally sound platform to work with, the Quadrifoglio is stable and well mannered and uses its incredibly quick steering ratio to trick you into wondering if perhaps it isn’t all-wheel-drive.

Backing up the hard-core performance credentials are carbon-ceramic brakes which work amazingly at the expense of a little pedal feel.

There’s accessible and awesome speed to be had from the Alfa and while our judges thought the Dynamic setting on the adaptive suspension was a fraction too hard, in Normal mode it seems about right for the real world.

Of course, an Alfa wouldn’t be an Alfa without a strong sense of style, and the Quadrifoglio’s interior gets some snazzy red accents as well as a strong safety story to tell with eight air-bags and autonomous braking.

Audi’s signature, screaming five-cylinder turbo-motor has found a worthy home in the latest TT RS.

With a whopping 294kW from its 2.5 litres, the TT RS can reach 100km/h from rest in a staggering 3.7 seconds, so don’t let that vaguely retro, chunky styling fool you.

It’s not just the ferocity of the power, either, it’s the way it’s delivered and how well the seven-speed DSG transmission works with it to maximise the brutality.

The basic TT has been on a diet, too, and the new weight of the TTRS is 1440kg; commendable given the complex driveline on board.

Then there’s the soundtrack; a meaty growl under load and a popping, barking, snapping chorus on the over-run and during gear-changes

Audi’s famous Quattro all-wheel-drive system is fitted as standard, but in the TT RS’ case, the basic set-up remains biased towards front-drive efficiency rather than the clawing tenacity of other Audi variations on the Quattro theme.

As such, it’s not quite as home on a race-track as you might have imagined, and it lacks the neutrality of, say, the Porsche Cayman in high-speed cornering.

In isolation, however, the Audi ‘s limits are extremely high once you get the hang of it and it rewards a carefully considered corner-entry speed.

Inside the TT RS continues to impress with Audi’s latest virtual cockpit display that is both intuitive and can be tailored to suit your mood.

In fact, it’s a real sense of style that helps mark the TT RS as something special, yet it never falls into the trap of placing form over function. And that’s refreshing.

Verbatim: “This could be the best looking interior on the market.” - Stephen Ottley

What we liked:

Enormous power and torque.

Sounds fabulous.

Stylish but functional presentation.

What we didn’t:

Slightly front-biased handling.

Ride will be too firm for some.

No autonomous braking.

2017 Audi TT RS Price and specifications

Price: $146,611 as tested

Engine: 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo petrol

Power: 294kW at 5850rpm – 7000rpm

Torque: 480Nm at 1700rpm – 5850rpm

Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, AWD

Fuel use: 8.4 litres per 100km (combined)

Finalist: Porsche 718 Cayman

The move from normally-aspirated six-cylinder power to a turbocharged four-cylinder engine for the latest Porsche Cayman has fundamentally changed the way the car sounds and feels.

Gone is the silky wail of the six and in its place is a throbbing wholegrain beat that reminds you of a Subaru WRX or even an old air-cooled VW Beetle.

But while the soundscape might have changed, the Cayman is still a lively performer with no less than 220kW from its two litres and a better-than-average serve of torque.

And with just 1365kg to propel, performance is still stunning with a 0-100km/h time of just 4.5 seconds.

Part of that performance is down to the clever PDK transmission with seven speeds, but even that aspect runs second to the Cayman’s phenomenal handling.

If there’s a more neutral car on sale right now, then we haven’t driven it.

Not only does the Cayman corner flat, it remains unflappable no matter how hard you overcook your corner speed or how late you leave your braking.

The steering is well weighted and deadly accurate: among the best in the business.

The 718 Cayman is a sensational looking car, too, with those scaled-down 911 proportions and planted stance.

The packaging is interesting with the mid-mounted engine imposing a shallow luggage area in the hatch and no back seat at all.

But the situation is saved somewhat by the deep front luggage space, even if the Cayman loses further marks by having virtually no stash-cubbies inside.

Of course, practicality always takes a back seat (just not literally in this case) to performance, and in that sense, the 718 Cayman is pure class.

Verbatim: “It’s all the Porsche you need, but is it all the Porsche you want.” - David McCowen

What we liked:

Telepathic steering and cornering

Useable, accessible performance.

Sexy styling.

What we didn’t:

No longer sounds like a Porsche.

Noisy inside.

Mid-engined packaging compromises.

2017 Porsche 718 Cayman Price and specifications

Price: $143,270 as tested

Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol

Power: 220kW at 6500rpm

Torque: 380Nm at 2500rpm – 4500rpm

Transmission: Seven speed dual-clutch automatic, RWD

Fuel use: 6.9 litres per 100km (combined)

Finalist: Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS

The history of the Porsche 911 is punctuated with technology advances that, according to the faithful at the time, should have ruined the whole thing.

First there was all-wheel-drive, then it was liquid-cooling, then electric power-steering, and now it’s turbocharged engines that have raised the purists’ hackles.

But fear not, because the essence and the passion of the original 911 is still alive and well in the Carrera 4 GTS (which features all those demonic tech advances) and just as well, because at north of $300,000, it had better be special.

And so it is, with the new turbocharged engine providing more thrust than ever along with reduced fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions.

How much more thrust? Consider the outputs of 331kW and 550Nm from 2.9 litres and a 0-100km/h time of just 3.5 seconds.

Throw in 8.5 litres per 100km and you have yourself a Porsche 911 for the modern era.

Of course, 911s have always been about corners and in that sense, the new car shines also. The steering feel and feedback has to be experienced to be believed and the all-wheel-drive grip is phenomenal without detracting from the car’s balance and neutrality.

It can be driven slowly and, when the track conditions allow, it can be driven about as quickly as anything else with four wheels and number plates.

The PDK transmission gives the 911 GTS the ability to hustle or mooch, and every previous 911’s reputation for being an everyday supercar still holds true. Perhaps more so than ever.

Verbatim: “We all know what it is…it’s a 911, and it's brilliant.” - Andrew Maclean